Digged Deep

In the most recent general conference, Brother Jan E. Newman related, “Recently, a good friend taught me something I hadn’t noticed before about the parable of the wise man who built his house upon a rock. According to the account in Luke, as the wise man laid the foundation for his house, he ‘digged deep.’ It wasn’t a casual or simple endeavor—it took effort!” The verse in question is this one: “He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock” (Luke 6:48). We have to spiritually dig deep with consistent, persistent effort in order to build our foundation on the Savior and protect ourselves from the spiritual storms of life. Brother Newman continued, “To build our lives on the rock of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, we need to dig deep. We remove anything that is sandy or superfluous in our lives. We keep digging until we find Him. And we teach our children to bind themselves to Him through sacred ordinances and covenants so that when the oppositional storms and floods come, as they surely will, they will have little effect upon them ‘because of the rock upon which [they] are built.’” Unfortunately, we cannot do this digging for our children—they must develop the desire and have the willpower to dig for themselves and develop their own testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. He added, “This kind of strength doesn’t just happen. It is not passed on to the next generation like a spiritual inheritance. Each person must dig deep to find the rock.”

                And so, Brother Newman asked this challenging question: “As the covenant people of God, how can we instill within the hearts of our children a desire to make and keep covenants with Him?” As I observe and teach and invite my own children, I often find myself echoing the sentiment of the familiar phrase, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Ultimately our role as parents is to lead them to the living water, to help them understand why they want that water and why other sources will simply not satisfy. But they must determine to drink for themselves. The words of the hymn Know This, That Every Soul is Free express how God works with us and how we should likewise treat our children: 

Know this, that ev’ry soul is free

To choose his life and what he’ll be;

For this eternal truth is giv’n:

That God will force no man to heav’n.

He’ll call, persuade, direct aright,

And bless with wisdom, love, and light,

In nameless ways be good and kind,

But never force the human mind. 

We too can “call, persuade, direct aright” with “wisdom, love, and light”, but we cannot force the mind of our children to follow the gospel path. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t try with all our hearts to lead them along in the right. President Nelson taught us where we can go to hear Him and help our children do the same: “We can go to the scriptures. They teach us about Jesus Christ and His gospel, the magnitude of His Atonement, and our Father’s great plan of happiness and redemption. Daily immersion in the word of God is crucial for spiritual survival, especially in these days of increasing upheaval. As we feast on the words of Christ daily, the words of Christ will tell us how to respond to difficulties we never thought we would face.” The living water is found in the scriptures and the words of holy prophets, and as we drink deeply and offer it to our children, we earnestly hope that they too will partake.

                I appreciated this quote that Brother Newman shared from Teaching in the Savior’s Way: “Taken individually, a single home evening, scripture study session, or gospel conversation may not seem like it is accomplishing much. But the accumulation of small, simple efforts, repeated consistently over time, can be more powerful and strengthening than an occasional monumental moment or landmark lesson. … So don’t give up, and don’t worry about accomplishing something grand every time. Just be consistent in your efforts.” We have certainly had many scripture study sessions in our home which have seemed to accomplish little as kids jump off couches, fight with each other, wander to and from the kitchen to eat, and do just about everything else except for pay attention to what we are reading. But we try to continue in hope that our efforts at consistency will eventually prove the truth of Alma’s words: “By small and simple things are great things brought to pass…. By very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls” (Alma 37:6-7).